With their little conversation over, both Rex and Danica snuggled closer to each other, deciding to just bask in the presence of one another, though before they slid off into their own little world, he did remind Eve that what they had just discussed, as well as any other conversation to come would stay among the three of them, with a few exceptions they would agree are necessary to be forwarded to Eve's father or whatnot. He also informed her that, while she would be accepted into their party at least temporarily, when they split apart, if it happens, she should spend some time adjusting once again. Their combat style will be like nothing she has ever seen before and thus impossible to recreate without Rex at the very least.

About half a day later, they created a rather large commotion in Ravenhold, as the two giant falcons landed in the property that was used as a temporary base when they stormed the slaver ring. It was bought by wolfkin and was used by whatever A rankers of their race would pass through the place. As a port city on the largest river crossing at least half the continent, it was often a stop for all manner of people from everywhere on the continent and sometimes the soil here would be graced by feet of some rather exotic and distant species like for example avarra- human shaped people with bat wings and long, fluffy tail and White, pupil less eyes. They were by no means blind though, as there were rumors that their vision was not only good but particularly sharp, like that of prey birds.

Whatever stirr their arrival created, was quickly resolved due to Eve's presence alone. One of the rare times Rex could actually appreciate the fact he was travelling alongside a princess, though he was also well aware that while it would mostly be a boon within this nation, it would not matter at all while in others, or worse yet, would serve to invite some additional trouble. Danica alone was enough to spark some rather foolish ideas in the perverted and spoiled youngsters, just imagine then the number of young master slappings about to come their way once they leave the Kingdom of Sol. Then again, Rex would not lie to himself and pretend he was not actually slightly enthusiastic for some of those. It has been a long time indeed, the incompetent vampire fledgling did not count in his humble opinion, since he had encountered anything of the sort after all.

Still, just as he had expected, there were no problems at all with their resupplying and acquisition of new gear for Eve. What she had was adequate, but in a rather limited quantities. They were about to depart for a rather long term monster grind and since Eve was an archer still in the early stages of forming actual mana arrows, she needed to stock up on some particularly large reserves. Rex did note that he would, however, help her out with said training, demonstrating a frightening proficiency with mana shaping, creating precisely the construct Eve had been working on, with barely any mana wastage and in perfect condition in one of the first tries he had performed once he read through the small scroll Eve had that described the technique.

If anything, Eve's presence saved them a bit of coin, every trader offering rather sizable discounts to one of their beloved princesses, though Rex made sure to reject all that were made regarding the items he was purchasing for either himself or Danica. They were not a part of this nation and he was loathed to incur even the slightest debt of kindness. Paranoid? Maybe just a little bit, however it would serve him well in the long term. Such a code of conduct would allow him to move along the nations unhindered, not beholden to any one place. Sure, he had already earned some friends and acquaintances and he would, as a result, purchase a property within this nation to call his home and allow said friends to seek him out at. That in turn would demand a slave, branded with his soul mark, working in each place to serve as a way to contact him immediately, should the need arise.

He would do the same, when it came to a place he could call his own in every other nation he would grind at. With the rank that he had already, as well with his unlimited growth potential, it was only normal he would create a way for the extra wealthy to contact him in hopes of having their requests looked at and perhaps even accepted. That though, was a problem to be solved by tomorrow's him, and so he focused back towards the task at hand.

Yet another half a day later, as the sun was setting over the horizon, the group returned to their temporary base, tired from all the purchases needed and made. They had also made a slight detour to visit both the adventurers guild to register Eve as a temporary member of their party, as well as the coachmen guild, requesting that the world was passed along through their channels about an A ranker's party that travelled on the backs of two giant, black coloured falcons. The gawking and panic of the local law enforcement was funny the first couple of times, though his party was well aware how quickly it would grow old and stale, becoming more of a hassle.

And so, with their reason of arriving in Ravenhold resolved, they laid to rest, having decided to leave early in the morning. With plenty of meat provided for Wari and Sidseld, their lovely giant falcons, and with Eve shown a room she could lay to rest, the duo left Snek to take care of the night shift as per usual, they disappeared in yet another room, soundproofed by Rex beforehand to have some much needed exercise in the horizontal tango.

The morning was rather easy for the beaming duo, though it was also rather obvious that Eve was not a morning person. Sure, she could get up nice and early, leaving the bed and darting to the door to meet her new teammates in less than a minute after they knocked, but she was also clearly half asleep for the first ten minutes or so while they moved through the city to find a proper place to have their breakfast. In the end, they settled on a small, place, their faces and forms covered by the gloomy capes and hoods. Rex was in no mood of extra attention due to Eve at this point. They needed a bit of privacy for a proper meal before they headed out to hit the first dungeon that they would reach in approximately another half a day, at least by the estimates Danica had made based on the distances they have covered so far with the help of the falcons.

And so, without any additional annoyances, they left the city, their bellies well filled and smiles adorning their faces. The largest one of course belonged to Eve, her mind racing to all sorts of imaginary scenarios they could run into, and all sorts of ways said situations could be resolved, displaying their grit, determination and skill. The creatures they would encounter and treasures they might find along the way. This, for the time being, felt like the type of adventure she had dreamed of all her life. And to seemingly actually get the chance to also experience it? Well. there were no actual words that Eve could use to convey the feelings welling up inside of her. The only words she could even manage to scrounge up were quite, yet heartfelt. "Thank you." she whispered every few minutes, her mind as if stuck on a blissful loop.

Navigating towards their goal was rather easy for the two falcons as Rex had served as a link, allowing Danica to convey the location as well as the things she knew regarding the path towards it. With the destination clear in mind, as well as the general path leading to it, using their own knowledge in regards to the path towards Danica's home town, the falcons fount their target rather quickly. And while some might imply that half a day was not quickly, with the alternative being ground travel that would take weeks, Rex would entirely disagree.

Their destination was quite the sight to behold as well. A small, rather pristine looking valley with a small, yet crystal clear river flowing through it, enveloped by numerous mountaintops, halfway up a rather large and awe inspiring mountain. Though if compared to the absolute monster of a mountain they had seen in the distance as they were heading towards the forest of giants, it seemed just barely out of its juvenile stage. Regardless, they could appreciate the sight before their eyes as they approached a small hilltop in the very center of the valley, the crystal clear river snaking its way all around it, leaving just a small stripe of land attaching said hill to the rest of the land all around it.

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There, on this small hilltop, what looked like finely chiseled gate led inside, well carved and finely crafted stairs descending down, the familiar shimmer of a dungeon gate announcing its presence just a meter down along these stairs. The gate was also large in size, easily allowing for creatures the size of Rex's falcons to pass through, indicating just how large monsters had left this specific dungeon some time in the past.

Soon enough the group were on the ground, the falcons rising back to the sky, allowed to hunt or do whatever for the time being. "So, anything in particular we need to know regarding the place you might have somehow forgot to tell us?" Rex asked, his tone light and relaxed, even as they approached the dungeon gate.

"Nothing I have not mentioned already. At least as far as I can remember." Danica just shrugged, not too worried. She was strong enough to have visited this place once before and the very start was not all that dangerous, at least as far as she remembered, and they had Rex. If there was anything that could slip past his senses they were deeply fucked regardless. Her relaxed nature, as well as the knowing smile she had when she looked at Rex sent a similar vibe, something the other two members picked up quite fast Rex was similarly relaxed to begin with, but the calm and collected attitude did help Eve to reach the same state, save for the additional excitement about what was to come.

As the walked through, the first thing that they felt was the fresh breeze of ocean, smacking them straight in the face. Danica, as someone who had been here before was already well prepared and aware. Much like Danica, Rex, who had been to the ocean before and was familiar with the particular feeling, smiled lightly, several pleasant pictures flashing in his mind as he and Danica are having a pleasant day at the beach, some of these flashes also including Eve somewhere in the background, doing her own thing.

Evelysandra however, was slightly taken off guard, never having been in a similar situation. She quickly whipped her head to one side, then the other, taking in their surroundings, the unfamiliar salty breeze creating a unique and never before felt sensations. As she slowly looked around once she saw that neither Rex, nor Danica reacted strongly, she noticed a large, sandy shore as far as eye could see in one direction and off in the distance some sort of a forest.

"Why is the air so different here?" she asked a few moments later, carefully breathing, lest she inhale too much of whatever it was in the air. And, noticing her cautious attitude, Rex smiled and explained.

"That's because we are on a beach of an ocean." As his words fell, Eve's eyes widened with realization and as she understood, the caution went to the wind and large breaths of air were inhaled by the excited woman. There were no access to ocean for their little nation and she had only heard tales of the endlessly vast body of water surrounding the landmass they called their home continent. Giving her the space she needed to take in the new revelation, Rex switched his focus back to Danica, asking the obvious question.

"So, where do we find our prey?"

"We will have to move through the forest there" Danica pointed towards the forest in their vision "There is a path towards the next island there, and then the next and the next and next. We will have to spend a day at the very least traversing the islands. The good news though are that the size of them become smaller as we advance, forming some sort of a corridor with their shape, making farming the areas where our targets could be encountered a rather efficient task."

As he listened to Danica's explanation, Rex pulled out a flask, filled with the spirit water he acquired from the forest of giants, taking a big gulp from it, enjoying the soothing feeling of it going down and then the warmth that spread through his body, his soul fragment growing just a little bit more. He had been drinking nothing but this water, solving the greatest bottleneck he had. Then, once Danica quieted down, he spoke up.

"But were your group anything even remotely close to what we have right now?" a knowing smirk spread across his face "Because I am almost certain it was not. Let's head out."

What followed was quite the sight to behold. Danica was leading the way, having passed through here before and having some level of preexisting knowledge, assisted by Rex and his regular mana pulses. Rex himself was just slightly behind Danica, keeping Eve right alongside him as they advanced forward. Whatever poor and unlucky group of monsters came into their path was mercilessly exterminated, either by Danica, ripping them to shreds in mere moments, by Rex, whose chains vibrated and tore through anything in their way, or Eve, who masterfully and precisely delivered rain of arrows, each and every one finding their targets vital points with ease. Then again, since the monsters of the dungeons started at the measly rank of C, it was entirely expected to happen as such.

For the rest of the day, they proceeded in the same manner, barely even bothering to collect the monster cores and loot items that were left behind, only actually gathering the rare items that occasionally dropped due to the sheer amount of monsters slain. Of course, they had to take a few breaks, Eve and Danica feeling the drain on their stamina. Even as they rested, Danica could not resist the temptation to comment on Rex's incredible stamina, questioning if he was even human at this point, only to receive a smirk and teasing remark about her being well aware of his stamina capacity. It was she who was always the one out from exhaustion and pleasure, never the other way around. That in turn earned Rex a growl and a bite on his shoulder, though he was well aware it was Danica's way of feeling slightly embarrassed and proud at the same time.

Due to the low level of monsters so far, Rex had yet to properly tap into his control mode, using the chains as deadly weapons while still keeping an eye on both Danica and Eve, with the latter receiving the lion's share of his focus. Danica was the close quarters fighter, as well as notably stronger, making their current quarry barely even worthy as a warm up. Eve on the contrary, had to always be mindful of her surroundings, something she had been trained and used to so far, expecting a stray monster to get through whatever front line the party was supposed to have. That awareness and sharpness was appreciated, and Rex would make sure to maintain it as muc has possible, even if the actual reason for it would change significantly.

If he was to describe the monsters encountered, the only way to do so was to classify this dungeon as beast paradise. All manner of monstrous beasts, ranging from wolves, deer, felines of different make, colour, and shapes as well as numerous different types of monster birds, to more exotic ones like hippos, zebras or even a rare rhino or two. All of them of course had odd colouring, extra appendages, like additional horns, plating covering their armour or extra tails, with all colours of the rainbow, one at a time or multiple even. As well as the size was notably off what a human would expect to see. There were no beasts smaller than a full grown deer, and the further they went, the larger and more powerful, as well as aggressive the monster beasts became, going so far as to sense them from hundreds of meters away and charging straight towards them.

It was close to the evening, a cycle of life and day existing within this realm that was closely tied to the outside world, that they stopped to make a camp, having come upon a solid place for such cause. A small, slightly elevated clearing, surrounded by a bunch of large rocks, serving as the perfect place to stop and rest. They had also finally started to fight as Rex intended, his chains serving as a control tool, severely limiting the number of monsters capable of approaching Danica at the same time, all while keeping them all a distance away from Eve, providing her with plenty of cision through the frid like walls Rex was forming. The monsters had reached middle to upper B ranks by this point, warranting such a response. As such, their speed had indeed fallen, not only due to the need for more careful and meticulous advancing, but also due to the need to actually loot most of their kills. It was well worth the effort in picking it all up after all and while none of them were hurting for money, Danica liked Rex's idea about having a house in every nation they would go through and Eve, she was simply having the time of her life, after she was done gawking at the way Rex controlled the battlefield of course.